Adam just shook his head. “It’s okay Jym,” he said into the microphone. “If anyone’s listening, I don’t think they’re going to be fooled.”
“Sorry. I’m not used to some of the terms you want me use. Are you all right? I’ve not picked up your proximity beacon.”
“Yeah, and you’re not going to either. The shuttle is out of commission and we’re stuck here.”
“Oh no!” Jym was always susceptible to fits of excitability. “We’ve been monitoring the reaction to your attack and the planet has been locked down! How are you going to get away?”
“We’re not — at least for the time being. I need you and Kaylor to lay off the planet for about a week — let’s make it six standard days — until things blow over down here. Then come down to our original landing port. We’ll meet you there.”
There was a slight hesitation on the link before Jym’s nervous voice came back on. “I am confused. What must blow over? Is there a storm on the surface? I’m not seeing any on my screens.”
Shit!
“Never mind that,” Adam said impatiently. “Just land in six days and pick us up. Can you do that?”
“If restrictions are lifted by then, we will be there.”
“Good. Now we have to go. Someone has tipped off the cops about us being here. Continue to monitor the newscasts. We’ll attempt to make contact with you again closer to the extraction, if possible.”
“I’m still confused about the weather — and what’s a cop?”
“Alpha Team out!” Frickin’ aliens.
Sherri tugged on his rob. “I hear helicopters outside — or whatever they have here like helicopters. I think they’re surrounding the building.”
Adam could hear the thump, thump, thump of the approaching craft as well. He turned to Poul. “Looks like you’re more involved than you wanted to be, and if you want to survive the night, you’re going to have to help us get out of here.”
“No! I can just turn myself in. I can say I was taken hostage!”
Adam smiled back at him. “Let me ask: who was the other male in your chambers, Poul, the one your mates were all huddled up against?”
Poul’s mouth formed the ‘O’ again. “That is my eldest. He is nearing maturity…”
Sherri put her arm on Poul’s back. “Well it looks like your mates might be looking to replace you with some young blood. Do you think that’s a possibility?”
Poul’s back shell appeared to shrink some, as he slumped in his posture. “Yes, I can see that now. My mates have been unhappy with me recently and they have been spending more time with Kiiax.”
“I don’t think they’ll support your story about being taken hostage. They’ve got all the credits now, and the young stud. Like I said before, I think you’re expendable.”
“That is a cruel thing to say, but I agree.”
Adam stood up from the seat. “Good. I’m glad that’s settled. Now can you tell us if there’s a way out of here?”
Poul was silent for a few moments. “I suppose we could go through The Baths.”
“What are those?” Adam asked as he hustled them all toward the door.
“They are below us, underground. We Hyben use them much of the time, even though the other non-Hyben workers tend to shun them.”
“Why?”
“I do not know. It is quite puzzling.”
“Can we get there from inside the building?”
“Possibly, but I would not take the elevator or the stairways. We could get trapped in there when the authorities enter the building.”
“Good thinking Poul. Lead the way.”
Chapter 7
The Hyben took them to a large double-panel opening in the side of the hallway, telling them this was an access to what he called the building’s carrier-shoot system. The system turned out to an intricate dumbwaiter setup used in place of freight elevators for the building. Within the large metal tunnels — hidden within the walls of the building — ran a continual series of large metal boxes, which conveniently were large enough for the Hyben to crawl into. Adam and Sherri squeezed into a second box, and they all began the journey through the maze to points unknown.
From inside the metal-lined tube, the Humans could hear the sounds of running and excited calls as what seemed like a hundred beings stormed into the building and began to fill the elevators and stairwells. Luckily, no one seemed interested in checking the carrier-shoots.
Eventually, the three of them were delivered to the lowest point of the conveyor system and Poul climbed out of his box, followed quickly by Adam and Sherri. The boxes swung around and began their rise back into the building.
The room they were in was large, dark and dank. There was a loud motor to the left that appeared to be running the dumbwaiter system, and a long hallway leading to the left. The walls were lined with sweating brick and a thick coating of moss and algae — and the place smelled like a sewer.
“Damn, Poul, it stinks down here,” Adam said, brushing imaginary flies from his face.
“I differ with your opinion. The Baths are quite relaxing for us Hyben.”
“So where are they, these baths?” Sherri asked, her face also contorted into an expression of disgust.
“This way. I’m sure once you’ve experienced them you will have a differing opinion as well.”
About fifty meters down the long hallway, Poul led them through a wide open doorway. At the opposite end of this new room was a large, dark hole in the floor. Poul turned to the two Humans. “This way — follow me.” And then the large Hyben plunged head first into the dark opening.
Adam and Sherri just looked at each other. Sherri was the first to speak, “I’m not going in there. Who knows what’s at the other end.”
Adam turned toward the exit; already he could hear the sounds of movement at the other end of the hallway. The authorities had apparently discovered their escape route and were closing in. “We can try to fight our way out — or we can follow the Hyben.”
Sherri shook her head while letting out a long sigh. And then she turned away from Adam and disappeared into the dark opening — with the word ‘shit!’ trailing off as she fell deeper into the abyss.
And then Adam, too, nose-dived into the dark, ominous opening….
Adam found himself sliding in the dark, his face showered with smelly, slimy goo scrapped off of the surface of the steeply sloping tunnel. Suddenly he burst out into the open, with a bright light illuminating his path. Yet what he saw in front of him caused him to inhale sharply, taking in a clump of the foul-tasting gooey mess into his mouth. He was heading for a ramp, one that rose steeply up in front of him — and ended in mid-air!
He rode up the ramp and off the end — like a ski jumper — until he was flying through the air, arms flailing as he flew. And then he splashed down, not in a pool of refreshing water, but rather in a lake of thick, putrid goo. The pool he’d landed in wasn’t very deep, and once he found his footing, Adam rose up, with his head and shoulders out of the liquid.
He gagged and began spitting the foul-tasting gunk out of his mouth. To his right he heard other coughing and looked to see Sherri standing not too far from him, pulling her fingers through her hair, attempting to dislodge globs of green and black matter from her once-blonde hair. She looked over at him, her face spotted with globules of goo.
“It’s all in my nose and my mouth!” she screamed at him. Adam just coughed some more and ran his hands over his face, attempting to keep the offensive goo out of his eyes.
And then Poul surfaced next to him. “Isn’t it glorious?” the alien asked, as his six appendages spread the viscous fluid over the front of this body and over his face. He appeared to be almost intoxicated by the sticky, foul-smelling mess.